No good deed goes unpunished….

Ever done someone a good turn only to have it bite you on the ass? That was me, last night! And I apologise in advance for the length of this......

I got a phone call on Monday night from one of my uncles, to say that his step-son (an apprentice electrician) has started work on a site just around the corner from my office. And seeing as how the industrial estate we’re based on is 38.2 miles away from my house (longer from theirs) and the public transport system in this country is just WOEFUL, he was wondering would I mind giving David a lift in and out to work?

No problems, says I. Now I was in Dublin city centre on Tuesday and Wednesday doing a course, so yesterday was the first day I could bring him in. So he’s dropped to my door on Thursday morning, bright and early (because in order for me to go to his house and get him, I’d have to get up about half an hour earlier. I get up at 5.30 – so that wasn’t happening.) Brought him in, that was grand. He called over to my office when he’d finished yesterday evening, and off home we went.

So far so good.

Then, instead of leaving him at the top of my road so he can get the bus the rest of the way home, I say “I’m in no hurry home, I’ll run you on into Drogheda.”

Which I did – traffic wasn’t too bad, found the house fine. So I swung into the drive way, then went to back out….

And scraped the side of my car against the wall.

That actually makes it sound worse than it is – it’s just on the passenger side, above the wheel arch – there’s a few (reasonably deep) scratches. And it looks really manky because it’s a black car. It’s just the shoulda-coulda-woulda syndrome – I should have let him get the bus, if I’d pulled up to the kerb and done a 3-point turn to get myself out…..

That and the fact my car is like a baby to me.

Car is booked in for a service in about 2 weeks, so I can get it fixed up then. In the interim, another cousin is fairly handy with cars, so my mum thinks he should be able to sand it down and put a bit of black paint on so it doesn’t look as manky as it is. (Because I can’t look at it right now without wanting to cry!)

Mantra for the day though is “There’s nothing bad that couldn’t be worse” – I think I need to get a t-shirt printed.....